The fundamental cause of cellular aging cannot be seen by the human eye, something called a telomere. Telomeres are made of repetitive DNA sequences that are the protective caps, or ends, of our chromosomes. Their duty is to protect our DNA. When we are born, our telomeres are long, but as time goes on, they begin to shorten. So short, in fact, that our telomeres fray similar to the ends of a shoelace and “cellular aging” begins.
When our telomeres become too short, our cells can no longer carry out their critical functions. Cells start to self-destruct and eventually die. Scientists call this apoptosis. Cells dying are one thing, but when cells simply stop functioning, known as senescence, they can spew out dangerous free radicals and inflammatory molecules that essentially damage nearby cells. So, how do we battle this process?
